Ying-Chou Chen
Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine,
Kaohsiung, Taiwan, #123, Ta-Pei Road, Niao-Sung District, Kaohsiung 833
People's Republic of China
Review Article
Trend of the Same Synovitis Changes in Rheumatoid Arthritis on Biological Therapy: Do we Really Need a Comprehensive US Assessment of Joints?
Author(s): Ying-Chou Chen, Chi-Hua Ko, Wen-Chan Chiu, Fu-Mei Su and Jia-Feng ChenYing-Chou Chen, Chi-Hua Ko, Wen-Chan Chiu, Fu-Mei Su and Jia-Feng Chen
Purpose: Comprehensive evaluation, including multiple recesses of all accessible peripheral joints, may be overly time-consuming in daily practice and in conducting clinical trials. This study aimed to investigate serial changes in synovitis activity at different joint level by ultrasonography (US) assessment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on biological therapy and to determine simplified method of monitoring these patients and to search the lesser time consuming and can be used in clinical practice method.
Methods: Patients with RA who received biological therapy were enrolled. All underwent power Doppler US assessment of 24 synovial sites A total of 396 joints and 792 synovial sites underwent power Doppler US assessment for five times (at baseline and at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after biological therapy). A general lineal model wa.. View More»
